Opening win allows Sixers to reflect before facing Wizards

Philadelphia 76ers' Michael Carter-Williams (1) celebrates after making a 3-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Miami Heat, Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2013, in Philadelphia. The 76ers won 114-110. (AP Photo/Michael Perez)

Those things won’t happen for the 76ers on a nightly basis this season. They were appropriate reactions Wednesday night, though, when Brown’s team stunned the basketball community with an improbable victory over the reigning NBA champion Miami Heat. But even Brown, the Sixers’ coach, and Carter-Williams, the team’s hero in that game, understood that the attention they received was relative to the enormity of the situation.

No extra celebrating. No chest beating. No days off from practice.

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“You go play again. That’s all you got,” Brown said Thursday, after the Sixers had put the wraps on a brief on-court session at PCOM. “For my guys, I’m pleased they can see reward for that early and find things to feel good about themselves. Now that day is done and you move onto the next game.”

That next game is Friday at Washington, where the first-place Sixers (really) have an opportunity to begin the season with a winning streak.

Before launching into an X-and-Os chat about the Wizards, Brown reflected some more upon the victory from the night before.

The first-year coach, who had his parents in the crowd for their son’s first professional victory, said he was up until 2:30 a.m. returning text messages from basketball people around the country who had reached out to him with kudos and congrats. Brown said he was pleased the Sixers were able to get a win in their first game, if only to get the inevitable out of the way.

There was plenty for Brown to feel good about, with Evan Turner scoring a game-high 26 points, Spencer Hawes nearly logging a double-double with 24 points and nine rebounds and Carter-Williams stealing the spotlight. The dynamic rookie filled up the box score, with 22 points, 12 assists, nine steals and seven rebounds, against only one turnover, in his NBA debut.

Carter-Williams, whose name was a trending topic on Twitter throughout the night, even drew praise from Johnson, who called the Syracuse product his candidate for NBA Rookie of the Year.

“You don’t want his head to get too big. Keep him grounded. That is all true,” Brown said of his 21-year-old point guard. “But you need to step back and say, ‘Look at his stats. Look at his impact on a game, and on a stat sheet,’ where it’s just littered across the board with incredibly high numbers in some areas.”

A humble guy, Carter-Williams even accepted the extent of his performance.

“The numbers I had yesterday were great. They were a little shocking. I caught a little rhythm,” he said. “It was kind of like, ‘I told you guys (his teammates) I could do this.’ Now I have to be consistent. I can’t have one game that goes well and then have a lot of bad games. I have to be consistent and stay within the game.”

As for where the Sixers (1-0) go from here, it’s back to the drawing board before facing the Wizards (0-1).

Brown’s list of items in which the Sixers need to improve is long. (“It goes and goes and goes,” he said.) Namely, he didn’t get enough from the Sixers bench, which provided 24 points and eight rebounds from four players over 66 minutes. The Sixers’ 3-point defense, which permitted 14 treys, was weak.

And, as Brown would point out, so were their inbounds plays.

“I got nervous when we had to call the (fourth-quarter) timeout,” Brown said. “They were walking out on the floor and I could see they really didn’t know, so I used up another one because that’s the game.

“If we can’t inbound the ball, they have a chance to get back in the game. I want to get tighter with that. I got upset with Michael for jumping in the air at Mario (Chalmers) at the end. I said, ‘You’re not going to jump, Michael, but you did. He could lean in and if he hits it, it’s a four-point play.’ All of those things, you want to get tighter.”

The Sixers have 81 games to work out the kinks. At least for one day, they were able to savor the big moment.